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Kenton
Chinctune or Kenetuna
It appears, from Blomefield and Parkin, the Norfolk historians, that about the
time of King John, Sir Peter Braunch, Knt., married Joan, the inheritrix of a
lordship within this parish, Cornard, and Brandon, in Suffolk, held of the
family of De Limesey, by knight's fees. It also further appears, from the same
authorities, that a manor here passed from Half Fitz Half, who died in 1269,
either to Robert de Nevile, who married Mary, his eldest daughter and
co-heiress, or to Sir Robert de Tateshall, who married the other daughter and
co-heiress of the said Ralf, who was a descendant of Ribald de Midleham, a
younger brother to Alan, surnamed the Black, the second Earl of Richmond.
The advowson of this parish church was granted to the Prior and Convent of
Butley, by William de Colvile, about 1230; who had it impropriated by Thomas de
Blundevil, Bishop of Norwich; and they were seized thereof at the dissolution,
when it was granted to Francis Framlingham, of Crow's Hall, in Debenham.
In the reign of King John, Ivo de Kenton resided at Kenton Hall, in this parish,
was owner of the lordship, and the greater part of the village. Robert de
Kenton, his eldest son, died about 1240, and left Ivo de Kenton, a minor, who
became afterwards seized of a messuage, and CO acres of land, in Kettleburgh,
and claimed before the Justices in Eyre, in 1286, to have warren in his manor of
Kenton.
He died in 1314, and Nigel de Kenton, his eldest son, succeeded, being at the
time of his father's decease, 40 years of age. He died in 1324; and by Maud his
wife, left issue Nigel de Kenton, who married Agnes, the daughter of Adam
Tastard, of Cransford, Gent., by whom he had issue, Loo de Kenton, who died a
bachelor, or without issue, Robert and John.
He was seized of lands and rents in Bramford, Burstall, Sproughton, Hintlesham,
Whitton, Broke, and Blakenham; and, by fine, settled his manor of Kenton, and
lands there, and in Debenham, Winston, and Thornham, upon himself and his wife
during their lives, with remainder to his three sons successively, and the heirs
of their bodies. Sir Robert Kenton, Knt., their second son, by Alice his wife,
had issue an only daughter and heiress, Alice, who married to Sir Roger
Willisham, Knt. Sir Robert deceased in 1382.
Sir Roger Willisham, by the said Alice his wife, had issue Alice, an only
daughter and heiress, who married Ralph Ramsey, Esq., "by whom he had issue two
daughters: Alice, the eldest, married to Sir Thomas Charles, of Kettleburgh,
Knt., and Anne, to Peter Gameys (or Garnish), the eldest son of Robert Garneys,
of Beccles, and Heveningham, in this county: by this marriage the Kenton Hall
estate came into the possession of the family of Gamey.
This was for many ages esteemed one of the principal families in the county; the
junior members whereof settled in different parishes in this county, and in
Norfolk; whilst the elder branch continued to reside in this parish for several
ages, and intermarried as follows:
Thomas Garneys, Esq., eldest son of = Margaret, daughter and co-heir of Sir Hugh
Franceys, of Sir Peter.
Giffard's Hall, in Suffolk, Knt.
John Garneys, Esq., eldest son of Thomas = Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Sir
John Sulyard, Knt.,
and Margaret, died in 1524
died about 1527.
Robert Garneys, Esq., eldest son of John = Anne, daughter and co-heir of Thomas
Bacon, Esq., of and Elizabeth.
Spectishall, and Baiconsthorp, Esq.
John Garneys, of Kenton. = Anne, daughter of Edmund Rookwood, of Euston, in
Suffolk, Esq.
Thomas Garneys, Esq., eldest son. = Frances, daughter of Sir John Sulyard, of
Wetherden, Knt.
Nicholas, 4th son of John Garnish and Anne Rookwood = Anne, daughter of Charles
Clere, of
inherited, and died about 1599.
Stokesby, in Norfolk, Esq.
Charles Garnish, eldest son. = Elizabeth, daughter of John Wentworth, Esq.,
sister of Sir John
Wentworth, of Somerleyton, in Suffolk, Knt.
He removed to Boyland Hall, in Moring-Thorp, Norfolk, and appears to have been
the last of the family who resided here. He was High Sheriff for Norfolk, in
1652, and died in 1057. John Gameys, their son, removed to Somerleyton, after
the decease of his uncle, Sir John Wentworth, Knt. This lordship afterwards
became vested in the Stone family, and it now belongs to William Mills, Esq., of
Great Saxham, in this county.
John Parkhurst, D.D., Bishop of Norwich, married Margaret, daughter of Thomas
Garnish, of this parish, Esq., and Margaret his wife, daughter of Sir Hugh
Francys, of Giffard's Hall, in Wickhambrook, in this county, Knt.
The Rev. James Douglas, F.A.S., vicar of this parish, rector of Middleton, in
Sussex, and Chaplain in ordinary to the Prince Regent, died Nov. 5, 1819. He was
the author of various publications: his greatest undertaking, entitled "Nenia
Britannica; or a Sepulchral History of Great Britain, from the earliest period,
to its general conversion to Christianity, "was commenced in 1786, and completed
in 1793. He was also a contributor to Mr. Nichols's "History of Leicestershire.
"The Earl of Egremont presented Mr. Douglas to the rectory of Middleton; but his
residence, during the latter part of his life, was at Preston, in the same
county.
ARMS. Blanchard: gules; a chevron between two bezants in chief,
and a griffin's head erased, in base, or. Wellisham: sable; two bars, in
chief, three cinquefoils, or. Kenton: sable; a chevron between three
cinquefoils, ermine; Ramsey: gules; three rams' heads, argent, armed, or.
Garneys (alias Garnish): argent; a chevron engrailed, azure, between three
escallops, sable. Wareyn: sable; three cranes' heads erased, argent.
CHARITIES. A double cottage, a pightle of half an acre, and the site of
another cottage, taken down in 1784, which now forms part of the churchyard. A
messuage and six acres of land in the parish of Bedfield, and two closes of ten
acres in the parish of Monks' Soham, let at £.16
a year; which is expended about the repairs of the church, and in defraying
other parish charges. Wentworth Garneys1, Esq.,
devised by will, in 1684, a messuage, farm, and lands, in this parish, to the
minister, churchwardens, and overseers of the poor of this parish and Debenham;
the rents thereof to be distributed amongst such poor people of the said
parishes, as they should see fit. This property consists of a messuage, farm,
and lands, containing about 22 acres, and a cottage, let at
£.31 10s. a year.
1. This Wentworth Garneys was eldest son of John Garneys, by
Elizabeth his second wife, daughter of Sir Stephen Soame, of Great Thurlow,
Knt., and grandson, of the above-named Charles Garneys and Elizabeth Wentworth,
who removed from hence to Boyland Hall. He married, 1st., Anne, daughter of Sir
Charles Gawdy, of Crow's Hall, in Debenham, Knt., who died in 1681; and,
secondly, Mary, daughter of Sir Thomas Abdy, of Felix Hall, in Kelvedon, Essex.
He died in 1685, without issue, and his estates were devised between his sisters
and co-heirs.
County
of Suffolk
Topographical and Genealogical, The County of Suffolk, 1844, Augustine Page |
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